Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The EU Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy) establishes a common framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. The overall aim of the Directive is to maintain high and good status waters where they exist and to restore waters that do not currently reach these standards. River basin management planning, structured in six-year cycles, along with its associated Programme of Measures, is the tool prescribed by the Directive for achieving these aims.

Building on the successful elements of the first River Basin Management Plan cycle, the Government introduced new high-level structures for implementation of the WFD as part of the second-cycle river basin management plan that covered the period 2018-2021. These new implementation bodies are supported by regional local authority structures, comprising of 5 regional committees, which drive the delivery of supporting measures at local level.

These structures are further supported by the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO). Funded by my Department (€9,157,875 in 2023), LAWPRO acts as a local government national shared service and is responsible for;

• Coordinating efforts by local authorities, public bodies and other stakeholders to achieve the water quality objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive
• Supporting local communities to get involved in caring for their local waters and participate in decision making and river basin management plans, and
• Applying catchment science to identify the issues impacting on water quality in a number of Priority Areas for Action and to refer them to the relevant bodies for action.

A significant element of the engagement by the Local Authorities in implementing the WFD is through nitrates inspections. In March 2022, the Fifth Nitrates Action Programme was published and it committed to increasing Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine inspections and to developing an enhanced local authority inspection and enforcement programme by Local Authorities.

Within the local authority sector, this resulted in the establishment of the local authority National Agricultural Inspection Programme, which is an inspection and enforcement programme, managed and co-ordinated by local authorities with guidance and oversight by the EPA. The EPA is responsible for firstly, providing guidance for local authorities on targeting inspections where water quality is impacted or at risk of being impacted from agriculture, secondly, tracking the progress of the programme and thirdly, ensuring that appropriate guidance and training are provided to local authority inspectors.

To ensure the resources are in place for this programme, my Department has been working with the City and County Managers Association (CCMA) to identify the existing local authorities’ resources available to undertake agricultural inspections and follow-up enforcement, and to determine the additional staffing resources required to deliver the target of over 4,000 inspections per year.

As part of this process, the CCMA has undertaken a review of resources for agricultural inspections and enforcement in each local authority to assess existing resources and skillsets, and to identify additional staffing requirements.

Prior to completion of the review, in 2022, my Department allocated funding of €60,000 to 10 local authorities to support the programme.

The review has identified that 57 additional staff are required. My Department has taken the review findings on board and, as an initial step, has allocated funding to 17 local authorities to recruit 21 additional inspection posts under the programme. Funding of additional posts will be kept under review.

My Department is currently preparing the third River Basin Management Plan for Ireland, to cover the WFD third cycle, and which will be published shortly. A key commitment in the Programme for Government, a new revised and strengthened River Basin Management Plan is a strategic plan that will outline the national policies and high-level goals that will protect and restore our natural waters, and will advance Ireland’s commitment to the implementation of the WFD.